Inside: Forget the expensive tools. Check out the easiest way to remove wallpaper. Save your time and your sanity with these easy tips to remove wallpaper!
Painting a room is one of my favorite ways to decorate without spending a lot of money. I have found that I can paint a room for around $30 and it completely changes the look and the feel of the room. Unfortunately, when you have a room with wallpaper you have a lot more work on your hands than just painting over the walls.
When we moved into our house there were 8 rooms with wallpaper. Our house was a foreclosure and almost all of the wallpaper was torn up. I just started removing the wallpaper from the last wallpapered room the other day. After so many rooms with wallpaper, I have tried many different methods. I even bought a wallpaper steamer to remove wallpaper. Turns out the easiest way to remove wallpaper is inexpensive, no need for any expensive tools or a wallpaper steamer.
To easily remove your wallpaper you will need a spray bottle, fabric softener, a putty knife, and this remover tool.
Start by mixing up a small batch of spray. You will want to mix about 1 cup of fabric softener with 1 cup of very hot water. You can make a larger batch, but the easiest way to remove wallpaper is when the spray is still hot so I like doing small batches to keep the spray warm.
Once you have the spray mixed take your wallpaper remover tool and gently roll it over a section of wallpaper. I have found it is easiest to work in small (about 2 feet by 3 feet) sections.
The tool should score the wallpaper so the spray mix can penetrate through the wallpaper.
When you have the wallpaper scored you can now spray the wallpaper with your mix. Make sure you get plenty of the fabric softener mix on the wall. I sometimes apply so much that it runs down the wall. Just make sure you have some towels at your baseboards to catch any of the mix. Let the mix sit on the wallpaper for 5 minutes.
Once the mix has set for 5 minutes you can start to remove your wallpaper. I like to start at a seam and use the putty knife to get it started. Once I get under an inch or two of the wallpaper I can usually easily remove the section I had soaking. It just peels right off! It really is the easiest way to remove wallpaper.
When I finish that section I just start over again on scoring and soaking the wallpaper.
If you want to really move quickly you can have two small sections going at once. Score and spray a section while another section is soaking. My son had a huge mural wallpaper on one wall in his room and we removed the wallpaper in under an hour.
Before you paint you will want to wash down the walls really well with warm water and a cloth. You want to make sure you remove all of the fabric softener mix before you start to paint. Once you have washed down the walls you are ready to paint.
Removing wallpaper will never be a fun job, but with these tips you can easily remove wallpaper and change the look of your room without a bunch of time or money. It really is the easiest way to remove wallpaper. Forget the expensive tools and save your sanity with this easy way to remove wallpaper. Do you have any wallpaper removal tips?
